I received the following question on Acts 2:38:
Those who assert that baptism by immersion in water is an element of our salvation point to the book of Acts (I believe it’s 2:38), where Peter states to a group to whom he was preaching, “Repent and be baptized.”
Brother, how do we get around that?
We don’t get around Acts 2:38, WE ACCEPT IT.
This is the “sugarstick” for those who believe that baptism is literally “in order to” the remission of sins. Baptism DOES remit sins, but the entire issue is, IN WHAT SENSE? And the answer is, In the ONLY sense in which it CAN remit — it is a “LIKENESS” and a “FIGURE” (Romans 6:4-6; 1 Peter 3:21). It thus remits sins in the representative sense. Just like the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, which did not really atone for sin, but represented Christ who would come and really atone for sin. See Hebrews 10.
In the language, there is the “figurative” device called “trope,” which means the attribution of that which is “real” to that which is only a symbol, an emblem, or a representation. When you show me a picture of your mother and say, “This is my mother,” you are using “trope.”
For a Biblical example:
Christ said, “This IS my body” when He took the bread. When He took the cup, He said, “This IS my blood.” Of course, His body was still His body and His blood was still in His body. He was using “trope”—attributing the reality to the emblem.
Since it is not possible for an external ordinance to do an INTERNAL work on the heart or to render satisfaction (atonement) to the broken Law of God (Hebrews 10:1-4), baptism can not do these things except in the “trope” sense—it represents the remission of sins by the death of Christ, which was the REAL remission (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:22, 26, 28). He put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself.
In EXPERIENCE, this remission of sins comes to us through FAITH (Romans 3:24-26; Acts 13:38, 39).
So, “Remission of Sins” has three applications:
(1) Literally, by the Death of Christ—Matt. 26:26-28
(2) Experientially, by faith in Christ—Acts 10:43
(3) Ceremonially, by Baptism—Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21
As a born again believer, no longer condemned, but passed from death to life, never to perish, with my old man dead and my life hid with Christ in God, I was baptized for the remission of sins, and so was every other child of God who has been baptized. It was the likeness of my death to
sin and resurrection to new life in Jesus Christ.—Bob Ross
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People who adhere to baptismal regeneration tend to stumble @ Acts 2:38 because of the word “for.” It can mean to receive, and it can mean because of. An example of because of can be seen in Matt 12:41, they repented “because of” (“at” in KJV) the preaching of Jonah. They repented because of the preaching of Jonah. They received the preaching first and repented second, because of it. The same can be seen in the statement, ” Take an aspirin for your headache.” You don’t take the aspirin to “receive” a headache, you take it “because of”, something you already have. Therefore, “We believe in one baptism for the remission of sins” is not a statement in the creed or Acts 2:38 that says we believe baptism takes away sin because we know for certain by the whole of scripture that it’s the blood of Jesus which takes away sin, Mt 26:28, Heb 9:22, I Jn 1:7, Rev 1:5, etc. Be baptized because your sins have been forgiven by grace thru faith, this is how Acts 2:38 should be understood.
In Patristic literature of the first three centuries there are many instances where baptismal regeneration can be read into the texts. But from the document “Re-baptism of the heretics” we can see that the early church didn’t hold to the interpretation of Acts 2:38 as baptism takes away sin. The writer (Cyprian 215AD?) argues from Acts 10:37-48 that “Those who believe” receive remission of sins (vs43) and that this truth can be seen by the fact that Peter’s hearers received the Holy Spirit when they believed (vs44-46). This remission of sins and receiving of the Holy Spirit happened before they were baptized (vs47,48). The writer points out that Peter repeats the story before the elders in Jerusalem, Acts 11:14-17. As you stated in other words, “The laver in the tabernacle and the believer’s baptism can only make the person ceremonially clean but neither could take away sin.”